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BOXING: Canelo Alvarez, the early years

Boxer Saul "Canelo" Alvarez during his 154-pound title unification bout agaisnt Austin Trout, Saturday, April 20, 2013, in San Antonio. The popular Alvarez, who nearly sold out the arena, won by unanimous decision.

BIG BEAR LAKE â" Saul âCaneloâ Alvarez sat coolly on a stool with his reddish hair blazing from the white hot television lights as a reporter fired questions at him inside a plush Big Bear Lake cabin.

Responses came easily, as if the 23-year-old were reading from a script.

âThe altitude helps with my conditioning,â said Alvarez, as a dozen members of various TV crews squirmed around him picking up equipment. âItâs also easier getting sparring partners here. There are a lot of good boxers in the area.â

Despite a 13-year age difference, Mayweather has only one more professional fight than Alvarez. Thatâs attributed to the early entrance into the pro ranks Alvarez had â" at an amazingly young 15 years old. Mayweather was 19 when he turned pro.

CANELOVIDEO

Canelo, as most refer to Alvarez, is the youngest of four boxing brothers. When still in primary school, he was often the patsy for his older brothers, who would force the redhead to pick fights with other students.

âMy brothers would pick out someone and say go fight him,â said Alvarez, who is four years younger than the next youngest, 27-year-old Ramon Alvarez. The others â" Rigoberto, 35, and Ricardo, 31 â" would push Saul to engage in schoolyard tussles. âThey would tell me you better win or else weâre going to beat you.â

He never lost.

Despite having three brothers who boxed, he wasnât interested in blindly following them to the local gym in Guadalajara. And though many other youngsters favored futbol, that sport wasnât for him either.

âI like to ride horses,â said Alvarez, adding that he learned at an early age to appreciate horseback riding. âThatâs my favorite thing to do when Iâm not boxing.â

Occasionally, Alvarez would venture into the boxing gym behind his brothers. All trained under boxing guru Jose âChepoâ Reynoso, who groomed several world champions during the past 15 years, such as Oscar Larios and Javier Jauregui.

Riversideâs Jose âEl Ninoâ Reynoso is the nephew of the great trainer and lived for one year in Guadalajara. It was while learning the finer aspects of boxing with his uncle Chepo that he first encountered Alvarez.

âWhen I first met him he was a little kid, he was on the Mexican team, the junior Olympic team. He was pretty good,â said Reynoso, 28. âHe had about 30 amateur fights.â

Reynoso remembers hearing his uncle call Alvarez by the nickname that stuck all of these years inside the Guadalajara gym back in 2004.

âMy uncle would say âhey whatâs up Canelo,â â said Reynoso, explaining that the word âcaneloâ is Spanish for cinnamon. âThatâs why my uncle gave him his nickname, because of his red hair.â

Alvarez was fighting amateurs and thriving but not convinced he wanted to follow his brothers into professional boxing. But the moment did eventually come, and the youngest of the Alvarez brothers never looked back.

EARLY PRO DAYS

Alvarez won his first four professional fights in the Mexican state of Jalisco, including a win over current lightweight world champion Miguel Vazquez back in 2006. It was Alvarezâs third pro fight. The only blemish on his record occurred when he accepted a fight against Jorge Juarez in Tijuana and ended in a draw.

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